When a young woman is attacked walking home from her local supermarket, Bea Jordan, a smart but unfulfilled checkout girl, is determined to investigate. Colleagues and customers become suspects, secrets are uncovered. While fear stalks the town, Bea finds an unlikely ally in Ant, the seemingly airheaded new trainee, but risks losing the people she loves most as death comes close to home. This is a warm, contemporary story with likeable leads, an engaging cast of supporting characters and a dark thread running throughout. ""British YA author Ward (Numbers) tries her hand at an adult mystery, a series debut, with promising results....Readers will look forward to their [Ant & Bea] next outing.""--Publishers Weekly. ""A warm, contemporary, and deftly scripted story with likeable leads, an engaging cast of supporting characters and a dark thread running throughout, The Cost of Living is an extraordinarily entertaining mystery by novelist Rachel Ward and very highly recommended, especially for community library Mystery/Suspense collections and the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery buffs.""--MWBR